Presenter(s): Hannah Solheim
Faculty Mentor(s): Ben Hansen
Oral Session 3 RA
In February of 2018, Oregon State University President Edward J. Ray decided to “ban the box” on the university’s application. Ray’s decision eliminated any questions about an applicant’s criminal history from the Oregon State University application. Officially, President Ray’s policy was designed to protect black and Hispanic men, who are more likely to have felony convictions. Many other institutions are also making the contentious decision to “ban the box” (BTB). However, does implementing a “ban the box” policy actually have a net positive effect on college enrollment for minorities and ex-offenders? Or, will admissions committees find other ways to keep ex-offenders off their campuses? Because the push to remove criminal history information from the college admissions process is so recent, little academic research has been done on it. However, economists have studied the analogous “ban the box” policies in the labor market. They found that BTB policies had a net negative effect on employment for young black and Hispanic men. Without criminal history information, employers may try to guess who has a criminal record, and avoid interviewing low-skilled black and Hispanic men as a result. Perhaps we will see the same phenomenon in the college admissions setting: after BTB goes into effect, admissions committees will be extra wary of admitting black and Hispanic applicants. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), I use a two-way fixed effects regression model to estimate the effect of adding criminal history questions to college applications. Preliminary results show that adding criminal history questions decreases enrollment for both male and female Hispanic students. Furthermore, using the synthetic control method, preliminary results show that BTB policies may cause statistical discrimination against Hispanic students. Further investigation is needed because it is imperative to understand any unintended consequences of BTB policies.